Norris and other places

March 13th, 2004

Trip Statistics:

Time Traveled -
Miles Traveled -
Accommodations -
Gas -
Food (Estimated) -

       First sign of a bad day. Running 3 or 4 minutes late, pressed the starter button on my bike only to hear CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Now the battery is only a few months old so I  was suspicious of the problem being a bad connection. A light smack to the side of the battery case and I was off and running but now 10 minutes late. On the way to our meeting spot, a foot peg loosened and twisted under my foot causing me a scare. Was able to fix them both at McDonalds while Ned Goodman and Sandee Bible looked on...patiently waiting on me.
    I had programmed the GPS Map Source software to take us for a ride making a loop. Included in that loop was Big Ridge State Park, Clinton and Maryville. It was generally laid out to go around the outskirts of Knoxville....but I made a mistake. The Map Source handled making a loop just fine, but the GPS wanted me to stay at the starting spot. I mean, I guess it was thinking "why make a loop? I will just stay here and be where I am starting and stopping without all the trouble of going around Knoxville. Of course, there is a good chance this was a "operator error" issue. I was able to wing it by telling it to go to Big Ridge, then Clinton etc. on a individual basis. Along the way, Kelly called. We met her in Clinton where we had lunch.
    There was still plenty of day light left so we decided to try a loop through Frozen Head State Park. We were off in that direction again, relying on the GPS to guide us . Traveling along a two lane, paved road for some time, I welcomed the GPS decision to make a turn onto a road with a name instead of a number. This is not uncommon when it is programmed for "Shortest Distance" and it is something we have done many times. This time was going to prove interesting....to say the least.
    After a mile or so, the road turned to hard packed crusher run. I glance at the GPS and saw we were less than a mile from another intersection. The road was not bad at this point so I pressed on. As we continued though, the road got less packed and there was more loose gravel making the bikes unstable. Still, that intersection was getting closer. Surely, the next road would be paved. NOT! Not even an intersection! There was an old road bed blocked off with boulders which looked a lot like a wagon trail. Ugh! That meant going back DOWN hill in the loose gravels as I could see the road we were on was eventually a dead end. We made it off without any damage other than my pride for leading everyone on a bogus adventure. There seemed to be no problems though other than dusty bikes and throats.
    With the detour and a riders health emergency at home, we decided to head back to Knoxville. Even though there were a few glitches on this ride, it was still better than riding in the rain.